New York State’s First Solar PV Installation on a Landfill Breaks Ground

Solar PV Installation on a Landfill – ( Solar Thermal Magazine )–OnForce Solar, a leading provider of solar energy systems, announced that they have started construction on a large-scale, 2.316 MW solar array to be built on 13 acres of a decommissioned, capped landfill in West Nyack for the Town of Clarkstown. This solar installation will be the first of its kind built on a landfill in the State of New York.

Clarkstown Supervisor Alex Gromack said,

We are very proud to be the first municipality in New York to install a solar field on a capped landfill. Councilman Hoehmann and I have been working on this project for the last five years and are excited to see it finally come to fruition. This cutting edge solar field is expected to save taxpayers as much as $4 million over the next 30 years.

The solar project is a public/private partnership and under the terms of the agreement, there will be absolutely no expense to Clarkstown. OnForce Solar will own the project in its entirety by investing $6M to install, operate, and maintain the solar installation pursuant to a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Additionally, the town was reimbursed $100,000 by OnForce Solar to cover any out-of-pocket expenses.

“I am delighted that we are moving forward on this important public/private partnership and breaking ground this month on the first solar field in all of New York State,” said Clarkstown Councilman George Hoehmann.

I deeply appreciate the work of the town staff, consultants, and I am grateful also to On Force Solar for being such a good partner in this unique partnership.

The solar system integrates Orange and Rockland Utilities’ SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) monitoring system that allows the utility to remotely monitor and control the solar system. The SCADA monitoring system, part of the Smart Grid Pilot Program, adds an enhanced level of resiliency to Orange and Rockland Utilities’ grid, helping to protect the utility’s customers from catastrophic power outages. This is the OnForce Solar’s sixth deployment in conjunction with a utility under a Smart Grid Program.

When complete, the 2.316 MW solar system is expected to generate in excess of 2,946,501 kilowatt hours of clean energy per year and is expected to save taxpayers as much as $4M over the lifetime of the system. Environmentally, the system will offset 2,030 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually.

Charles Feit, CEO of OnForce Solar, commented,

We are gratified the Town selected OnForce Solar to execute this project from a very strong list of competitors through a rigorous vendor selection process. Repurposing the closed West Nyack Landfill to create clean energy is a precedent setting project for the State of New York and we expect will act as a catalyst for further development of landfills across the state.

The solar system installation was made possible, in part, through a multi-million dollar award that the Town of Clarkstown received from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) through Governor Cuomo’s NY-Sun initiative.

Construction of the solar field is expected to be completed by the end of this summer.